Fatal Oregon Car Accident Kills One, Injures Two

A three-vehicle Central Oregon car accident over the weekend left one person dead and two injured. The Salem Statesman-Journal, quoting Oregon State Police, reports that 19-year-old Yardley Rico of Culver was driving north on US-97 when, for reasons still unknown, his car drifted over the center line.

Rico reportedly sideswiped one oncoming car before colliding head-on with another. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver and a passenger in the car he hit head-on were treated at a Redmond hospital for what the Statesman-Journal describes as “non-life threatening injuries.” The driver and passenger in the other car – the one Rico sideswiped – were not injured.

The Oregonian reported that OSP officials are still trying to determine “if safety belts were used by those involved in the accident.” It adds that Highway 97 “was closed in both directions for two hours after the accident while emergency responders treated the injured.”
Stories like this one are, tragically, too often a part of everyday life along our roads and highways. The fact that they are common does not, however, mean they should be excused or explained away. If you or a loved one have been the victim of an Oregon car accident there are many questions that need to be asked. Had the person responsible for the accident been drinking? If so, the person who served or sold him or her alcohol may share liability under Oregon’s dram shop laws. Are their other people whose conduct may have contributed to the accident? In what way?

All of these are issues that a Portland or Central Oregon car accident attorney can help clients sort through. The law can be complex, and often confusing. That is why competent, experienced legal help is so important in the wake of an Oregon car crash, as you begin the long road toward recovery, and the struggle to rebuild the parts of your life that have been lost or damaged.